What Happens To Tom Cruise's Jack Reacher Character After The 2016 Movie (2024)

Warning! Contains spoilers for Lee Child's Personal and Never Go Back.

Summary

Jack Reacher 3 never happened, leaving fans wondering about the fate of the Tom Cruise character after the second movie.
Jack Reacher 2, based on Lee Child's Never Go Back, sees Reacher uncover a conspiracy to prove Major Turner's innocence.

Jack Reacher 3 never happened, leaving many viewers curious about what might have happened to the Tom Cruise character after the second movie. Based on Lee Child's Never Go Back, Jack Reacher 2, which premiered in 2016, unfolds a new crime-solving adventure for the titular character. This time, he takes the responsibility of proving the innocence of Major Susan Turner, who gets arrested for treason. Although Reacher faces many unforeseeable problems along the way, he eventually manages to expose the grand conspiracy behind Turner's arrest.

While unraveling the central mystery in Jack Reacher 2, the Tom Cruise character also gets romantically involved with Danika Yarosh's Samantha. Since the movie does a decent job of getting viewers invested in Jack Reacher's investigation and romantic developments with Samantha, its end leaves one wondering where he will go next and whether he will stay in touch with Samantha. The movie series provides no answers, but Lee Child's original Jack Reacher books draw a clear picture of where the character ends up next.

Reacher

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Crime

Action

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What Happens To Jack Reacher In Personal, The Next Book In Lee Childs' Book Series

Lee Child's Personal Primarily Unfolds In Paris

The second Jack Reacher movie, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, is based on Lee Child's 2013 book of the same name. According to the original book series' chronology, Lee Child's Personal comes right after Never Go Back. Pretty much like every installment in the Jack Reacher book series, Personal unfolds in a whole new location, featuring a new villain Reacher must track down. Personal begins by introducing an elite American marksman named John Kott who takes a shot at the president of France in Paris.

After a 15-year prison sentence, Kott sets his eyes on a G8 summit, where several world leaders come together. He must be stopped from drawing a bean before it is too late, and that is where Jack Reacher comes in. Teaming up with a rookie analyst named Casey Nice, Reacher races against time to end Kott's mission. As always, he faces several setbacks and challenges along the way but eventually manages to overpower the bad guys before leaving for another city with his toothbrush.

Do Samantha & Jack Reacher Reunite After Never Go Back's Ending?

Jack Reacher Rarely Runs Into Former Allies & Romantic Interests In The Series

What Happens To Tom Cruise's Jack Reacher Character After The 2016 Movie (6)

In Lee Child's Jack Reacher books and the TV adaptation, the titular character proudly calls himself a hobo as he never settles and keeps moving from one part of the United States to another. Owing to this, regardless of how close he gets to people in one location, he moves on before forming any lasting relationships. His transient lifestyle is a core part of his identity, and he rarely thinks about stepping back from his lifestyle. Owing to this, Jack Reacher never runs into Samantha after Never Go Back's ending.

Throughout the Lee Child book series, Jack Reacher remains a solitary figure.

Even when it comes to his other romantic interests, like Roscoe and Dixon, he embraces his time with them while he is in town but never looks back once his job is done. This, in many ways, adds to Jack Reacher's overall appeal because it highlights how he remains free from societal constraints and responsibilities. He lives his life on his own terms and refuses to be tied down by any permanent attachments. Throughout the Lee Child book series, Jack Reacher remains a solitary figure.

8 Biggest Changes Jack Reacher: Never Go Back Makes To The Lee Child's Book

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back made many changes from the original Lee Child book, from character behavior to plot details to major players and more.

Will Jack Reacher 3 Ever Happen With Tom Cruise?

It Seems Unlikely

What Happens To Tom Cruise's Jack Reacher Character After The 2016 Movie (8)

The first Jack Reacher movie, which premiered in 2012, grossed $218.3 million against a budget of $60 million. Although it received mixed reviews from viewers and critics, its box office success spawned a sequel, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. Unfortunately, director Edward Zwick took an experimental approach with the second Jack Reacher film and tried to combine elements from Lee Child's book with those of Paper Moon. This resulted in a movie that fizzled at the box office, preventing the director from teaming up with Tom Cruise for another film.

Although director Edward Zwick takes full blame for the Tom Cruise movie's box office failures, he is still willing to give it another shot on one condition. If Tom Cruise agrees to collaborate with him on the project by returning as Jack Reacher, Zwick would love to direct the third film. However, since it looks like Tom Cruise has moved further away from the project over the years, it seems unlikely he will ever reprise the role and return for Jack Reacher3.

What Happens To Tom Cruise's Jack Reacher Character After The 2016 Movie (9)

Jack Reacher 2

PG-13

Action

Thriller

Director: Edward Zwick
Release Date: October 19, 2016
Writers: Richard Wenk , Edward Zwick , Marshall Herskovitz
Cast: Tom Cruise , Cobie Smulders , Danika Yarosh , Austin Hébert , Patrick Heusinger , Aldis Hodge
Runtime: 118 minutes
Main Genre: Action

Movies
Jack Reacher (2012)

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